Collected Works. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

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СКАЧАТЬ shall I teach you a way to prevent Caesar from eating you?

      CLEOPATRA (clinging to him piteously). Oh do, do, do. I will steal Ftatateeta’s jewels and give them to you. I will make the river Nile water your lands twice a year.

      CAESAR. Peace, peace, my child. Your gods are afraid of the Romans: you see the Sphinx dare not bite me, nor prevent me carrying you off to Julius Caesar.

      CLEOPATRA (in pleading murmurings). You won’t, you won’t. You said you wouldn’t.

      CAESAR. Caesar never eats women.

      CLEOPATRA (springing up full of hope). What!

      CAESAR (impressively). But he eats girls (she relapses) and cats. Now you are a silly little girl; and you are descended from the black kitten. You are both a girl and a cat.

      CLEOPATRA (trembling). And will he eat me?

      CAESAR. Yes; unless you make him believe that you are a woman.

      CLEOPATRA. Oh, you must get a sorcerer to make a woman of me. Are you a sorcerer?

      CAESAR. Perhaps. But it will take a long time; and this very night you must stand face to face with Caesar in the palace of your fathers.

      CLEOPATRA. No, no. I daren’t.

      CAESAR. Whatever dread may be in your soul—however terrible Caesar may be to you—you must confront him as a brave woman and a great queen; and you must feel no fear. If your hand shakes: if your voice quavers; then—night and death! (She moans.) But if he thinks you worthy to rule, he will set you on the throne by his side and make you the real ruler of Egypt.

      CLEOPATRA (despairingly). No: he will find me out: he will find me out.

      CAESAR (rather mournfully). He is easily deceived by women. Their eyes dazzle him; and he sees them not as they are, but as he wishes them to appear to him.

      CLEOPATRA (hopefully). Then we will cheat him. I will put on Ftatateeta’s head-dress; and he will think me quite an old woman.

      CAESAR. If you do that he will eat you at one mouthful.

      CLEOPATRA. But I will give him a cake with my magic opal and seven hairs of the white cat baked in it; and——

      CAESAR (abruptly). Pah! you are a little fool. He will eat your cake and you too. (He turns contemptuously from her.)

      CLEOPATRA (running after him and clinging to him). Oh, please, please! I will do whatever you tell me. I will be good! I will be your slave. (Again the terrible bellowing note sounds across the desert, now closer at hand. It is the bucina, the Roman war trumpet.)

      CAESAR. Hark!

      CLEOPATRA (trembling). What was that?

      CAESAR. Caesar’s voice.

      CLEOPATRA (pulling at his hand). Let us run away. Come. Oh, come.

      CAESAR. You are safe with me until you stand on your throne to receive Caesar. Now lead me thither.

      CLEOPATRA (only too glad to get away). I will, I will. (Again the bucina.) Oh, come, come, come: the gods are angry. Do you feel the earth shaking?

      CAESAR. It is the tread of Caesar’s legions.

      CLEOPATRA (drawing him away). This way, quickly. And let us look for the white cat as we go. It is he that has turned you into a Roman.

      CAESAR. Incorrigible, oh, incorrigible! Away! (He follows her, the bucina sounding louder as they steal across the desert. The moonlight wanes: the horizon again shows black against the sky, broken only by the fantastic silhouette of the Sphinx. The sky itself vanishes in darkness, from which there is no relief until the gleam of a distant torch falls on great Egyptian pillars supporting the roof of a majestic corridor. At the further end of this corridor a Nubian slave appears carrying the torch. Caesar, still led by Cleopatra, follows him. They come down the corridor, Caesar peering keenly about at the strange architecture, and at the pillar shadows between which, as the passing torch makes them hurry noiselessly backwards, figures of men with wings and hawks’ heads, and vast black marble cats, seem to flit in and out of ambush. Further along, the wall turns a corner and makes a spacious transept in which Caesar sees, on his right, a throne, and behind the throne a door. On each side of the throne is a slender pillar with a lamp on it.)

      CAESAR. What place is this?

      CLEOPATRA. This is where I sit on the throne when I am allowed to wear my crown and robes. (The slave holds his torch to shew the throne.)

      CAESAR. Order the slave to light the lamps.

      CLEOPATRA (shyly). Do you think I may?

      CAESAR. Of course. You are the Queen. (She hesitates.) Go on.

      CLEOPATRA (timidly, to the slave). Light all the lamps.

      FTATATEETA (suddenly coming from behind the throne). Stop. (The slave stops. She turns sternly to Cleopatra, who quails like a naughty child.) Who is this you have with you; and how dare you order the lamps to be lighted without my permission? (Cleopatra is dumb with apprehension.)

      CAESAR. Who is she?

      CLEOPATRA. Ftatateeta.

      FTATATEETA (arrogantly). Chief nurse to——

      CAESAR (cutting her short). I speak to the Queen. Be silent. (To Cleopatra) Is this how your servants know their places? Send her away; and you (to the slave) do as the Queen has bidden. (The slave lights the lamps. Meanwhile Cleopatra stands hesitating, afraid of Ftatateeta.) You are the Queen: send her away.

      CLEOPATRA (cajoling). Ftatateeta, dear: you must go away—just for a little.

      CAESAR. You are not commanding her to go away: you are begging her. You are no Queen. You will be eaten. Farewell. (He turns to go.)

      CLEOPATRA (clutching him). No, no, no. Don’t leave me.

      CAESAR. A Roman does not stay with queens who are afraid of their slaves.

      CLEOPATRA. I am not afraid. Indeed I am not afraid.

      FTATATEETA. We shall see who is afraid here. (Menacingly) Cleopatra——

      CAESAR. On your knees, woman: am I also a child that you dare trifle with me? (He points to the floor at Cleopatra’s feet. Ftatateeta, half cowed, half savage, hesitates. Caesar calls to the Nubian) Slave. (The Nubian comes to him.) Can you cut off a head? (The Nubian nods and grins ecstatically, showing all his teeth. Caesar takes his sword by the scabbard, ready to offer the hilt to the Nubian, and turns again to Ftatateeta, repeating his gesture.) Have you remembered yourself, mistress?

      Ftatateeta, crushed, kneels before Cleopatra, who can hardly believe her eyes.

      FTATATEETA (hoarsely). O Queen, forget not thy servant in the days of thy greatness.

      CLEOPATRA (blazing СКАЧАТЬ